• By 1801, use of Interchangeable parts: identical
pieces used to assemble products
• Factory system: power-driven machinery, workers w/
different tasks
• Mass production: production of goods in large
quantities
• Industrial Revolution—social, economic reorganization:
– machines replace hand tools
– large-scale factory production develops
• Samuel Slater builds first
thread factory in Pawtucket
RI (1793)
• Mechanize all stages cloth
making (1813)
• By late 1820s, Lowell, MA becomes
booming manufacturing center
• Thousands—mostly young women—leave
family farms to work in Lowell
• Agriculture in the North
– Farms in North smaller than South
– Farmers raise 1-2 types of crops, livestock
– sell farm products @ city markets; buy other items
– Grains don’t need much labor or yield great profit: need
no slaves
– Northern slavery dying out by late 1700s
– most Northern states abolish slavery by 1804
• Eli Whitney’s cotton gin allows farmers to grow cotton for
profit
• Great demand for cotton in Britain, growing demand in North
• Poor non-slaveholding farmers go west to cultivate cotton
• Plantation system established in LA, Miss., Alabama
• Cotton hugely profitable; by 1820s, demand for slaves
increases
• Increase in cotton production parallels increase in slave
population
• Leaders come up with a plan to unite country’s regions, create a
strong economy:
– develop transportation systems; make internal improvements
– establish protective tariff
– revive natl’ bank
• House Speaker Henry Clay promotes plan as the American
System:
– North produces manufactured goods
– South & West produce food, cotton
– natl’ currency& transportation facilitate trade
• all regions sustain the others, making the U.S. economically
independent
I might look
creepy, but
my plan
rules!
•
•
•
•
•
First steam engine built 1825
Many states build turnpikes, toll roads
Federal govt. funds highways to connect different regions
1838, National Road extends from MD to IL
Erie Canal links Hudson River to Lake Erie: Atlantic to Great
Lakes
• Madison proposes Tariff of 1816: a tariff on imports
– increases cost of foreign goods
– people more likely to buy American goods
– helps pay for improvements
• The Northeast likes the tariff; the South & West resent higher
prices
• Clay& Calhoun convince congressmen from South & West to approve
the tariff
• Most leaders agree to a natl’ bank & natl’ currency
• 1816, Second Bank of the United States chartered for 20
years
• James Monroe elected president (1816), begins the “Era of good
Feelings”
• Spain, Portugal try to reclaim old colonies; Russia has
trading posts in CA
• Monroe Doctrine (1823) warns Europe not to interfere in
Americas, and the U.S. will not interfere w/ Europe
• Gibbons v. Ogden (1824): federal govt. controls interstate
commerce
• McCulloch v. Maryland (1819): states can’t overturn laws
passed by Congress
• Territory & Boundaries
• Nationalism—natl’ interests & concerns come before regional &
foreign concerns
• Secretary of State John Quincy Adams guided by nationalism
• Makes treaties w/ Britain on Great Lakes, borders, territories
• Spain cedes Florida to U.S. in Adams-Onís Treaty; gives up claim to
Oregon Territory
• The Missouri Compromise
• Issue of slavery divides settlers requesting admission to the
Union
• 1818: 11 slave states & 11 free states
• Missouri’s status becomes a source of intense hostilities
• Henry Clay temporarily resolves crisis under the Missouri
Compromise:
– Maine = free state, Missouri = slave state
– LA territory split into 2 spheres of interest: 1 for slaveholders & 1
for free settlers (36 30 n latitude = dividing line)
• Tension Between Adams & Jackson
– In 1824, Andrew Jackson wins popular but not electoral
vote
– John Quincy Adams elected president by House w/ Clay’s
support
– “Jacksonians” claim Adams & Clay have struck a “corrupt
bargain”
– Jacksonians join Democratic-Republican Party & block
Adams’s policies
• Most states ease voting qualifications; few require property
• In 1828, numerous new voters help Jackson win presidency
• Jackson’s Appeal to the Common Citizen
• Jackson claims he is of “humble origins”, though in reality is
wealthy; says Adams is “intellectual
elitist”
• Jackson wins 1828 pres. election by
a landslide
• Jackson limits appointees to federal jobs to 4-yr terms
• Uses the spoils system: replaces former appointees w/ own
friends and supporters
• Jackson’s friends become his
primary advisers, nicknamed the “
kitchen cabinet”
• Indian Removal Act of 1830
– Whites want to displace or assimilate NAs
– “ 5 Civilized Tribes”: Cherokee, Choctaw, Seminole,
Creek, Chickasaw
• Jackson: only solution is to move NAs off their land; thinks
assimilation can’t work
• Congress passes Indian Removal Act of 1830
– funds treaties that force NAs west
– Jackson pressures some tribes to move, forcibly
removes others
• Worcester v. Georgia: courts decide in favor of the
Cherokee; the state can’t rule Cherokee or invade their
land
• Some Cherokee try to continue court fight, minority favor
relocation
• Federal agents sign treaty with minority; relocation begins
• By 1838, 20,000 remain; President Martin Van Buren
orders removal
• Cherokee sent west on Trail of Tears; 800-mile trip made
on foot to reservations
• Cherokee are robbed by govt. officials, outlaws; thousands
die
• The Nullification Theory
• British try to flood U.S. w/ cheap goods so a tariff raised 1824,
1828
• VP John C. Calhoun calls the 1828 tariff the Tariff of
Abominations
• He thinks the South pays for North’s prosperity; cotton prices
are too low
• Calhoun devises the nullification theory:
– Questions the legality of applying federal laws to states
– state can reject laws it considers unconstitutional
– states have right to leave Union if nullification is denied
• SC declares 1828 & 1832 tariffs null & void; threatens to
secede
• Congress passes the Force Bill: the government can use
army& navy against SC
• Henry Clay proposes a tariff that lowers taxes over 10 years
to try and avoid conflict
Saving the
day again…
• Jackson vetoes bill to re-charter Second Bank of the
United States
• He believes the National Bank is a “privileged institution”
that favors the wealthy
• Pet Banks: Jackson puts federal $$ in state banks loyal
to Democratic Party
• Bank of the U.S. president, Nicholas Biddle,
unsuccessfully tries to save the bank
• Whig Party Forms; People unhappy w/
Jackson form the Whig Party& back the
American System
• Martin Van Buren wins 1836 election w/ Jackson’s support
• Pet banks print more bank notes than they have of gold and silver
• At the same time, the national govt. demands specie to pay for
public lands
• There is a rush to exchange paper money for specie; without
enough gold & silver, the banks stop accepting paper bank notes
• Panic of 1837—bank closings, collapse of credit system
– people lose savings, businesses are bankrupted
– More than 1/3 of population is out of work
• Van Buren tries unsuccessfully to solve economic problems
I’m kind of
forgettable…
• A member of the Whig party, William Henry Harrison,
beats Van Buren in 1840 election
– Harrison enacts Whig program to revitalize economy
– Dies 1 month later; succeeded by VP John Tyler
I’m kind of
– Tyler opposes many parts of Whig economic plan forgettable
too…
I won!! But
I’m not
feeling so
well…